The mobile banking app will allow cheques to clear by the end of the next working day, without customers having to step foot in a branch.

On 30th October 2017, the Cheque and Credit Clearing Company will start a phased roll-out of a new, image-based cheque clearing system across all banks that will speed up cheque processing significantly for customers across the UK. Cheques processed via the new system will mean that if a customer pays in a cheque on a weekday they will be able to withdraw the funds by 23.59 on the next working day (excluding bank holidays) at the latest.

B takes this one step further and offers this service to customers on the go, via their smartphones, and CYBG is one of only a few banks to offer the new industry-wide faster cheque clearing system via a secure mobile banking app.

B customers will be able to process cheques of up to £500 without visiting a branch. Instead they will be able to send a simple picture of cheques on their phones and send it securely to the Bank wherever they are.

The cheque will take no longer than the next working day to clear, including approval from the bank it came from. If you make your deposit after 5pm, clearing won’t start until the next working day. For cheques paid in before 5pm on a Friday, a text will be sent on Friday and the available balance will be updated on Monday, assuming the paying bank approves the transaction.

B is safe and secure. The app uses the latest security techniques, including industry-standard 128-bit SSL encryption, multiple firewalls and a real-time intrusion detection system that looks out for security breaches.

Cheque and Credit Clearing Company’s launch of cheque imaging will involve a phased roll-out, with all banks and building societies deciding on an individual basis when they are going live. Initially, none of the UK’s banks and building societies will clear all cheques via the image-based system to the faster timescale. At some stage in the summer of 2018, roll-out will be complete and all of the UK’s banks and building societies will have this new clearing system in operation for all cheques.

Until then, two clearing systems will operate in parallel, which means that some cheques that customers write or pay in will clear more quickly via the image system, and some will clear to the existing timescale, which can take up to six days, through the current, paper-based system. Banks and building societies will be advising their customers of their individual roll-out plans as appropriate.

CYBG will still give customers the choice to pay in a cheque, as they do today. There will be no requirement for customers to use a smartphone or tablet to pay in a cheque if they don’t want to.

Fraser Ingram, CIO at CYBG, said: “As the UK’s leading challenger bank, we are proud to offer our customers secure, simple and smart banking. Quick mobile cheque clearing with B is an excellent example of how we’re making our customers’ lives easier.

"Cheques have been embedded in our culture since banking began and our new technology, along with faster clearing, will give cheques a new lease of life.

“The idea that customers could deposit cheques from anywhere in the world and have access to their money the next day would have been unthinkable even just a few years ago. CYBG’s new iB platform is allowing us to deliver these kind of changes to customers faster and more efficiently than ever before - giving customers greater choice and convenience with their banking.

“B continues to go from strength to strength - we now have over 100,000 B customers, we launched our next generation B store in Birmingham last month and are currently working on a number of hugely exciting developments that will further help to revolutionise the service we give our customers, such as voice activated banking.”